NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday accused Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his BJP colleagues of trying to give a religious colour to the upcoming assembly polls by raking up vote jihad. Speaking to reporters in Pune, the 83-year-old politician left it to the people to respond to Deputy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar over his remarks that he would be in the next line of leadership after the senior Pawar. Referring to a purported appeal by an Islamic scholar for vote-Jihad against the BJP-led Mahayuti government, Fadnavis had on Friday called for a dharma-yudh of votes to counter it. Asked about Fadnavis's appeal to voters, Pawar said it was the BJP leader who had brought up vote jihad, referring to minorities favouring the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in a few constituencies during the Lok Sabha elections. If in one area of Pune where Hindus are in the majority and they vote for the BJP, it is common knowledge that this outcome was expected. Tha